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July 28, 2011

G103: Royals 4, Red Sox 3

Pinch-hitter Carl Crawford nearly won the game in the bottom of the ninth with a shot to deep right field. But a possible two-run homer became the second out of the inning as Jeff Francoeur raced back to the track by the short fence, then turned quickly and reached back towards the field and made a basket catch, with a slight bobble.

Dustin Pedroia extended his hitting streak to 25 games with a home run to lead off the eighth inning. ... Jacoby Ellsbury had a two-run double in the third, knocking in Jason Varitek (single) and Yamaico Navarro (double). ... Adrian Gonzalez and Drew Sutton each had two singles.

Beckett (7-6-4-3-8, 109) was superb in six of his seven innings. But he faced nine batters in an ugly 38-pitch fourth. He walked the first two, then gave up a three-run dong to Billy Butler. Back-to-back doubles from Francoeur and Mike Moustakas brought in another run.

Hochevar (7-6-2-1-6, 103) matched Beckett, but avoided a melt-down inning. After Ellsbury's double put the Sox up 2-0, Hochevar gave up a one-out single to Gonzalez, putting runners at first and third. But Kevin Youkilis and David Ortiz both went down swinging, and the Royals quickly stormed back.

Dustin Pedroia is hitting .406 (43-for-106) over his 24-game hitting streak. He has also reached base safely (hit or walk) in 36 straight games -- .391/.463/.689/1.152 -- the longest streak in MLB this season.

WEEI.com, citing a "source familiar with the matter", reports the Red Sox are very concerned that Clay Buchholz's sore lower back is the result of a more serious injury than a muscle strain. Buchholz's bullpen session was cancelled yesterday.

Crawford has a strained left elbow (bothers him more when throwing than swinging), had a cortisone injection on Tuesday night. Hopes to return to the lineup tomorrow night in Chicago.

Drew said today that his left shoulder injury (irritation in his rotator cuff) has been a problem for much of the season and he has had a series of injections.

Something tells me it's a perception thing, but maybe not, who knows. We'd have to check the number of errors per season in a league over a long period of time, to see if it dropped off a lot recently.

I am not sure I ever looked forward to using these words, but the Oakland A's offense is on fire. They have been since the break, pounded Shields yesterday, and have jumped on Wade Davis for five runs in the first today.

That was so shitty, because the RF was running so fast toward the wall (making it appear it had to be gone) that he actually barely overran it, then went down for a basket catch a step or two from the wall. Goddamn that shoulda been a dong. Or if he drops it we tie the game and chaos ensues.